Broken Souls (Broken Realms, #2)

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 4Mara sat lotus-style on the round throw rug in front of the fireplace in the living room waiting for her mother. She picked at the loose pieces of yarn along the edge of the rug, imagined pulling one, unraveling the entire thing, and thought better of it. She leaned back and looked up at the rest of the room. A shiver ran down her spine.

“Have you started without me?” Diana said from the foot of the stairs in the short hallway that led into the living room.

“I’m not meditating, believe me. I was remembering the last time this room looked like this,” Mara said, surveying the space. “The night you went all evil serpent queen on me.”

Diana walked over and sat with her legs crossed on the floor in front of Mara. She placed a green crystal between them. Mara recognized it as the demontoid she had on the Oregon City Bridge that night she had confronted her possessed mother.

“You’re wearing your swami muumuu. I’m in real trouble, aren’t I?” Mara said. “Why don’t you just ground me like most parents? Why do we have to meditate before you lay down the law?”

“It’s a caftan, not a muumuu.”

“It’s burning my retinas. I think that pattern could induce seizures.”

“Close your eyes and shut your mouth, and your retinas will be fine.”

“But—”

“Cooperate or we’ll do a guided meditation instead.”

“Okay, please don’t tell me when to breathe in or out. It makes me feel like I’m taking a Lamaze class.”

“Last warning,” Diana said, holding up the green gem to catch the light. “Focus.”

Glimmers of green played across Mara’s face. She instinctively squinted for a second, then relaxed and stared deeper into the light until it engulfed her entire field of vision. The luminescence refracted and split into solid translucent panes of green light, and Mara could see her reflection bounce back and forth, as if she could see into infinity. She raised her hand, but her duplicates did not. They were not reflections. They were her counterparts, other versions of her in other places. Mara looked past them, deeper into the green light, trying to get her bearings, to figure out where she was.

In the distance an obelisk glowed, light pulsing through it from base to tip, thrumming to an unheard beat. An arm reached from behind the pillar; a hand slid down its side, caressing its shimmering surface. A leg stepped out of the darkness, writhing between darkness and light to the timing of the thrumming obelisk, pulling forward the torso of a woman who twisted side to side, flinging her long hair in dark waves across her face.

Mara could hear a whisper, more of a moaning chant, as the dancing figure slid her back alongside the obelisk and slinked around the corner. Now facing Mara, the figure became a twisting silhouette against the backlit stone. The chanting grew louder, and the woman bent forward, the green light catching her features: a serpent tattoo coiled on her forehead, its head diving down the bridge of her nose. It was Diana, not chanting but calling to her.

“Mara! Mara!” her mother shouted.

Mara’s eyes snapped open. In front of her face floated the green demontoid, spinning in midair, casting off beams of bright light that filled the room with an emerald glow.

Her mother sat across from her wide-eyed, her expression shifting from fear to wonder and back again. Diana stared into her daughter’s eyes and said, “What are you doing?”

Mara closed her eyes, shook her head and said, “Nothing.”

The glowing gem winked out and fell from the air into Diana’s hand. Diana leaned forward and touched Mara’s cheek. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I drifted off there for a few minutes, I guess.”

“I almost fell asleep too. I opened my eyes, and the entire room was filled with a dense green light. It almost seemed as if it had substance, like panes of glass reflecting thousands of images of us. For a moment, I was sure we were standing inside the crystal itself. Absolutely incredible! Did you do that?”

“I guess. It seems to happen if I focus intently in what feels like a daydream. It’s like I slip into the essence of the object or something.” Mara blushed and looked away. “I’m starting to sound like you. Pretty soon I’ll be burning incense and going into trances.”

Diana smiled. “I’m no expert, but that daydream of yours looked a lot like a trance to me. This happens when you focus on crystals? Are you tapping into some kind of energy?”

“It happened with a crystal before, but the last time it happened was with a bowling ball. It sorta floated like this crystal, but it caught fire instead of glowing.”

“A bowling ball? You were meditating over a bowling ball?”

“I was working on a bowling ball spinner at the shop, and it happened. Sam saw it. It’s a long story. Anyway I don’t think it’s just crystals, but I have to admit the experiences with the crystals are more—”

“Powerful? You’re drawing energy from them?”

“I’m not drilling for oil, Mom. We’re not talking Exxon Mobil here,” Mara said, rolling her eyes. “I was going to say intense. The crystals seem to help me tap into something. It’s like I can see into reality, into infinity, beyond the perception of this realm.”

“Now you’re starting to sound like some of my New Age friends. You’re practically spouting metaphysical dogma, if there were such a thing.”

Mara sighed. “Ping seems to think there is. He’s been helping me understand some of this stuff. You know, he crossed over from a different realm during the plane crash, right?”

Diana nodded. “Like your brother. I talk to Mr. Ping when I drop Sam off at the bakery. He’s a wonderful man. He took great care of Sam after they first crossed over. I’m sure he is a great mentor for you.”

“Why do you say that? What did he say about me?”

“No need to get paranoid. We haven’t discussed you at all. We mostly talk about how Sam is adjusting to his new reality, his tutoring with Mrs. Zimmerman and his work at the bakery. Mr. Ping told me that he is a professor of metaphysics and philosophy, or he was before, but he has not gone into any detail about it. Has he been teaching you some of his beliefs?”

“I guess you could say that.”

“And has it helped you understand what happened during the plane crash and what we went through on the Oregon City Bridge?”

“Yes, it has helped a lot. I’m not sure I understand all of it, but it has helped me put some context around everything.”

“So teach me what you’ve learned.”

“I’m not sure I’m up to talking about it right now. I think I need a little more time to absorb all of this. I know you’re trying to help, but—”

“This might come as a bit of a surprise to you, but everything I do and say isn’t designed to serve your needs, to help only you. You’re old enough now to understand that, don’t you think?” Diana pushed her hair over her ear with a finger, a sure sign she was getting her dander up. The set of her jaw left no doubt.

“Whoa, where did that come from?” Mara leaned back a little. “Maybe a little more meditation is in order.”

“Don’t push this off with a quip. I’m serious. You’re not the only one around here who’s gone through a lot lately. Sam’s living in a whole new world, and I have a fourteen-year-old son who I’ve only known for two weeks. You’re not the only one having to make adjustments, young lady.”

Mara looked down at her hands. “I’m sorry. I’m an i***t. Why didn’t you say you needed to talk about it?”

Diana glared at her.

Mara raised her hands in front of her. “Right. You did. I assumed you were trying to manage me, and it never occurred to me that you needed to work it out too. You seem so grounded and accepting of everything. I mean, this stuff is right up your alley—all this metaphysical hinky hoodoo. I thought you were all copasetic with it.”

“Well, you were wrong. The notion of things beyond this physical world I can deal with. However, trying to kill my own daughter takes a little more time and effort.”